I’m not wild about the release date of this film. Not at all. See, there’s a great deal about the Super Bowl here and how easy marks are for said event. There’s practically a “How To” guide on scamming people showing up for the big game. Now while it’s unlikely actual Patriot and Seahawk fans in Phoenix got taken to the cleaners quite like the extras in Focus, why didn’t you coordinate the release of this film before the game took place? Watching fictional fans get abused seems like taunting actual fans who got taken, doesn’t it? “Here ya go, folks – this is how you probably got burned … ha! I’m sure you deserved it, jerks.”
Speaking of people who deserve to get burned, Will Smith continues to be very watchable so long as son Jaden isn’t around. I fully encourage that. Focus allows us to revisit slick Will Smith. Cool. Nicky (Smith) is a small-time con man (can you call a big timer “King Con?”) and sly as they come. Ten minutes in, he recognizes he’s being played and allows Jess (Margot Robbie) to go through with it anyway, essentially playing with his own life just to get a small thrill and be kind of an ass about it. Why? He wanted to grade the hustle and “boobs.”
If you like Will Smith, this is a good film to like him in. It plays a lot like Hitch, except substituting romance for con-artistry. Nicky reluctantly takes on Jess as a protégé mostly because she won’t leave him alone. Jess is a rank amateur. Nicky makes no bones about demonstrating, but he likes the project because what she lacks in deftness, she compensates for in hotness. After all, boobs.
Nicky’s den of thieves takes the Super Bowl crowd for over $1 M, and he takes it to the game itself, presumably to gamble it away?! After watching Marky Mark implode with a small fortune in The Gambler, watching Will do the same pitting himself against BD Wong was almost too much.
My personal take from one-on-one big betting scenes? Nobody, but nobody, can possibly get rich with either an escalating or a double-or-nothing strategy. Nobody. It’s simply impossible – you gamble until you lose
and then you owe big time. Double-or-nothing repeatedly essentially means, “I’m gambling until I hit nothing.” Unless you’ve never lost in your life – and even James Bond loses sometimes, you will end every.single.gambling session even or worse. This behavior describes zero wealthy people. Zero.
Focus, unfortunately, kinda gets lost in romance; is Nicky falling for Jess? Did Nicky fall for Jess and not tell us? Will that cause French Prince to lose Focus during the big con? This is a better movie when we know Will is in charge rather than when we’re just guessing he is. Is Margot Robbie in for a bigger career? Hard to say. I can’t say she did much on film that I’ll remember, but I don’t mind when she’s there. After all, boobs.
Did I lose Focus just now?
Ok, in lieu of a poem or song, let’s play “Will Smith character or con game?”
a. Three Card Monty
b. Spanish Prisoner
c. The Fresh Prince of Bel Air
d. Bagger Vance
e. Pig in a Poke
f. Art Student
g. Kansas City Shuffle
h. Agent J
i. Tea Cake Walters
j. Captain Hiller
k. Sick Baby
l. False Good Samaritan
m. John Hancock
Rated R, 104 Minutes
D: Glenn Ficarra, John Requa
W: Glenn Ficarra, John Requa
Genre: The Fresh Prince of Thieves
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: The unsung heroes of pickpocketry
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: Super Bowl patrons
